Heaven Help Us camp not running scared of Honeysuckle clash at Leopardstown

Paul Hennessy is hoping his prayers will be answered at the Dublin Racing Festival when his star mare Heaven Help Us takes on Honeysuckle, the unbeaten queen of Irish racing, in the Chanelle Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle.

Heaven Help Us stormed to victory in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham last season and Hennessy is charting a path back to the festival in March and the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle with his stable star this term.

Before then, the trainer is happy to take a swing at Honeysuckle in the Irish Champion Hurdle, a race he feels will leave Heaven Help Us in the best possible shape heading to Cheltenham.

He explained: "I feel that she might get a harder race in a big-runner handicap carrying top weight than running in the Irish Champion Hurdle. I know taking on Honeysuckle won't be simple, there's nothing simple about that, but I think it will serve as a better prep race for the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham. It will be a proper workout – a fast pace, two miles and all that carry on, which will be ideal."

Hennessy added: "We think she will run well in it but the main reason for running is that it will leave us in a better place going forward to Cheltenham."

Paul Hennessy: 'We wouldn't have the world of experience in training horses but we had the half-brother to Heaven Help Us and he was an even bigger rogue than myself!'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

A general 8-1 chance for the Mares' Hurdle, Heaven Help Us was reported by Hennessy, a renowned greyhound trainer, to have come out of her narrow Grade 3 defeat at Leopardstown over Christmas in rude health.

Hennessy may have won the English and Irish Greyhound Derbys as a trainer but he is relishing managing a horse as good as Heaven Help Us and is looking forward to the challenge of snaring back-to-back Cheltenham Festival victories.

He said: "She came out of Christmas really well. There hasn't been a bother on her. She actually loves going racing and loves the day away. She has a great constitution. She's just a very happy mare and enjoys doing what she's doing. It's just amazing to have one like her.

"We wouldn't have the world of experience in training horses but we had the half-brother to Heaven Help Us, First Friday, and he was an even bigger rogue than myself! He won four races for us down through the years but to think we'd have a horse like Heaven Help Us is just unreal.

"Competing at the top level in sport is amazing when you have a chance. The Mares' Hurdle is our big plan and the betting suggests it's the best chance of her winning at Cheltenham. She just loves the place. We got her over there last year and the first thing she did was get down and roll in the box.

"She got up, dusted herself off, and then got down and rolled again. I knew there and then she was pretty happy. Hopefully we can get her there in the same form again this year."

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